Download as xls-file does not work

Tobias Kemper

Hello,

the download of search results does not work since a few days. For example here:

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https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?q.filmNumber=187086&count=20&offset=0&m.defaultFacets=on&m.queryRequireDefault=on&m.facetNestCollectionInCategory=on

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The search results show people from a certain parish (I have tried several). It is possible to choose "download" as xls file. But the columns "chrDate" and "chrPlaceText" are empty. Is this a known issue to be fixed?

Best regards!

Julia Szent-Györgyi

I can confirm that the "birthLikeDate" and "chrDate" columns are completely empty in both XLS and XLSX format when trying to download search results from Film 187086.

I repeated the test with a different film from a different place, and got the same thing: the Date columns are empty in the exported spreadsheet.

https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?q.filmNumber=4703448&count=20&offset=0&m.defaultFacets=on&m.queryRequireDefault=on&m.facetNestCollectionInCategory=on

The difference is that the Hungarian index fills in the last column ("otherEvents") with a string that includes the date, for example "BAPTISM/04 Jan 1805//Bana, Komárom, Hungary".

There is definitely something wrong with the "Export" function.

Merleen Gholdston

@Tobias Kemper ,

Thank you for reporting the issue you found with search results exported to the spreadsheet format files. Thank you for providing the link to demonstrate the problem of missing christening dates and places in the exported file.

Your question will be forwarded to a specialty team for review and resolution. You may be contacted by that team if they need to gather more information.

Vincent T

Hi @Tobias Kemper I hope the article below helps in any way

Export Results in Historical Records • FamilySearch

https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-export-my-search-results-in-historical-records

Use Export Results to export search results to .xls format, which is readable by most spreadsheet programs.

Tobias Kemper

Hello @Vincent T. ,

As explained above, exactly this is not really working. In the xls file, the columns "chrDate" and "chrPlaceText" are empty. It does not really make sense to get only names without dates.

N Tychonievich

@Tobias Kemper Engineers indicate they have fixed the issue with an XLS download of search results. Give it another try and let us know if it's still missing data.

Tobias Kemper

@N Tychonievich

Thank you very much to you and the engineers. Yes the XLS download does now work again.

But there is now another issue, at least for film no. 187125:

Some weeks ago, the index for 187125 contained marriages including YEAR, MONTH, DAY. Actually, only the YEAR is given. I don't think that MONTH and DAY have been deleted in the database - but this information is not given anymore.

Best regards

Tobias Kemper

N Tychonievich

@Tobias Kemper Thank you for the report about the erroneous index for film 187125. Pulling up that film and clicking to see the indexed records, I'm only seeing years for the marriages in the search results. Rather than page through the 4,049 results to try to find the ones the show complete dates in error, perhaps you could provide us with the URL of an example. Thanks!

Tobias Kemper

@N Tychonievich There are no results which show complete dates in error - in contrary: Some months ago, the indexed records contained complete dates. These dates all have disappeared.

For example:

Now only years. The error is that the DAY and MONTH have gone.

N Tychonievich

Aha! Sorry I misinterpreted your earlier post. Wish we had a solution. These are part of a very large collection, Germany Marriages, 1558-1929. We understand that some of these old and massive collections are being worked on, but those who are working on them are not currently taking reports of errors. We know that they are exploring tools to make it easier to both report and fix problems with the collections. In the meantime, we can note the errors we find and hope for better solutions in the future. Wish we had a more satisfying answer for you.

Tim Fisher_1

So as I take it, exporting a batch of records (to any format, not just Excel), shows only names and maybe one other snippet of information. For example I'm searching "Germany, Prussia, West Prussia, Catholic and Lutheran Church Records, 1537-1981". Out of a few hundred results of various searches there is no information other than names on at least 3/4 of them. Heck even the hyperlinks are broken. Looking at these records there dates, places, etc. so it's not like it's missing in the database. Why is this so difficult to fix? As it stands the results are almost totally worthless because I have to go back and find that specific record, unless I wrote down the exact search parameters I used. Useless doesn't even begin to describe it. Familysearch obviously doesn't give a hoot about serious researchers. Just people who name slap family trees together.

N Tychonievich

@Tim Fisher, please provide a URL showing the screen of search results you want to export. Also, what file format are you using for the export that is not showing the complete information? We can let engineering know that the export search result function is not working correctly, but need to be able to provide them with a specific instance of the problem. (I just did a general search and exported as XLS and again as XLSX--all fields were properly populated)

Graham Buckell

@Tim Fisher_1

Bear in mind also that dates and places do not appear on lines where the person searched for is not the principal in the record but another party, e.g. father or mother.

Regards

Graham Buckell